The Young Environmentalist

Léa Dubois, 19, leads youth climate actions focused on river protection. Her activism connects global movements to local waters.

"My generation inherited poisoned waters. We didn't pollute them, but we'll suffer the consequences. That makes me angry. Anger is energy if you use it right.

"I started noticing the Oise, our local river, when I was fifteen. It ran brown after rain, smelled chemical in summer. Fish floated belly-up. Adults shrugged—'It's always been like that.' But that's a lie. I found old postcards showing people swimming there in the 1950s.

"I organized school friends to monitor water quality. We used simple tests, posted results online. Local officials ignored us until media picked up our story. 'Teenagers Shame Town Into Action.' Suddenly, everyone cared about the river.

"We didn't stop there. Friday climate strikes? We'd march to the river, collect trash while chanting. Make protest practical. We mapped every pollution source, every illegal discharge. Some factories tried to intimidate us. We're teenagers—we don't intimidate easily.

"The movement grew beyond our town. We connected with youth groups along the whole river system. Shared data, coordinated actions. When one town's factory pollutes, downstream kids protest. Solidarity flows like water.

"Adults say we're too radical, that we don't understand economics. But we understand science. Two degrees warming means our rivers die. No jobs on a dead planet. We're not radical—we're realistic.

"My immigrant friends get it fastest. Their families fled droughts, floods, climate disasters. They've lived what France will face. When Fatoumata from Mauritania explains desertification, everyone listens. Experience teaches better than textbooks.

"We're winning slowly. The Oise is cleaner. Fish return. Last month, I saw an otter—first sighting in decades. But clean water isn't enough. We need justice. Poor communities still face worst pollution. Industrial agriculture still poisons groundwater. Politicians still choose profit over rivers.

"My generation won't accept that. We'll vote, protest, innovate. Some of us study environmental law, others engineering, others politics. All aimed at saving waters. The rivers gave France life. We'll give life back to rivers."